I Think We're Alone Now
by Life With Paigey
Summary: Casey and Derek are always getting in each others way. Grounded again because of their constant bickering, with one budding, and one rocky relationship... Derek and Casey finally realize that getting along is far more rewarding than getting in the way.


**Paigey Note: I do NOT own Life With Derek, although I wouldn't mind owning Derek  
This is my first fanfiction so I would appreciate any type of feed back, good or bad, to take into consideration for this story. Sorry for the Uneventful first chapter... I promise for a more exciting second chapter Enjoy and comment.  
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Chapter 1: Breakfast Debacle  
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"DE-REK!"  
His sloppy half grin still lingered as the remaining bits of breakfast sat distastefully on his step-sister's lap. This was the third fight this week that had rendered her a complete food covered mess. Wednesday's winner? Pancakes smothered in sticky maple syrup: and on the receiving end sat Casey Mcdonald; Perfectionist extraordinaire.

_"You're so Lucky to be Derek's step-sister."_  
Yeah, like she was about to believe Emily anytime soon on that one. It had been nearly two years since she had moved in, and it seemed that things were slowly getting worse. Thankfully, her senior year was around the corner, and she and Derek would be as FAR away from each other as humanly possible.  
"Oh, I'm Sorry- Did I do that?" His response was somewhat muffled in between his fit of obscene laughter.  
"GEORGE! Did you see what your son just did?" Casey had slowly begun to attempt to mop off the mess from her clothes, as she stood, mouth open- I look of disgust planted firmly upon her face.

"Dad I swear- it's not MY fault Spacey Casey doesn't pay attention in the morning. She clearly walked into MY plate of pancakes, all because I told her that Noel was-"  
A shattering of plates clashed hard against the ground as the little white pieces of porcelain spread out across the floor. As predicted, Casey let out a high pitched earth shattering scream, while Derek only flinched to avoid any damage to himself.  
"CASEY, DEREK, LIVING ROOM, NOW"  
George's face was fuming now. Not only was the kitchen a mess, Derek and Casey's squabbles were becoming more frequent and more violent. Although, the plate had been dropped accidentally in Casey's lunge to stop Derek from saying any embarrassing thing that was sure to make it's way out of his mouth, something obviously needed to be done.  
"Well if you hadn't brought up Noel-"  
"If you hadn't tried to permanently lodge a plate in my skull-"  
"AND IF YOU TWO COULD ACT YOUR AGE AND JUST GET ALONG!"  
It was the last straw in this house. It was the last time he lost another one of his possessions to one of Casey and Derek's silly fights over, well, nothing.  
"Oh come on George. You saw what he did- you saw that it was Derek's fault. He always-" Her voice, for once, had gone quiet. It was obvious she wasn't going to be able to talk her way out of this one. Not this time.  
"NO!" George took a moment to calm himself down, a much needed sigh finally escaped him, as his muscles visibly began to relax, "No, Casey he doesn't always. Derek can be a pain sometimes…"  
Casey shot him a warning glance at that one.  
"Fine, all the time. But you two need to learn to deal with this instead of acting like two spoiled brats every time you don't get your way. I can't possibly LIVE like this anymore."  
Derek gave a snort of laughter, which was followed swiftly by a forceful punch to the gut from Casey.  
"ENOUGH. That's it. You both are grounded."  
"But George- This is the third time I've cancelled on Noel. And we just started talking again. Can't we negotiate this-"  
"And Dad- I am NOT missing my date with Sally this weekend."  
"It's funny how you two tell me what you're going to be doing this weekend. Or for any weekend really- seeing as the two of you won't be seeing anything other this house, your rooms, and each other for quite a while."  
It was real this time. There was no "getting off for good behavior." There was no bribing; no possible escape from the doom of having to spend, who knows how long, with her step-brother. Her gross, obnoxious, impossible step-brother.

"You can start your bonding by helping each other clean up the mess in the kitchen. I'm late for work now, and you two are going to be late for school."  
His speech slightly huffed from his frazzled state, George grabbed his briefcase and rushed out of the front door.  
"You knew how much this weekend meant to me Derek.. Can you do anything without being completely immature?!" Her voice was becoming hysterical as she made her way back into the kitchen to fix the damage their feud had created.  
"Yeah, actually I can," Derek replied grinning. Picking up a single piece of the broken dish, and tossing it haphazardly into the garbage, his smile mischievously widened.  
"See? Tell me when your done with the kitchen, yeah?" With his final sarcastic comment he turned to leave, before any real damage could be inflicted on him.  
"Oh yeah, and Case?" he stopped suddenly, his face softening slightly.  
"What?" Her frustration was obviously clear as she gritted her teeth in an attempt to be civil. Was it possible that the great Derek Venturi had it in him to apologize after all?  
"Wash up before we leave. I'm already embarrassed to be seen driving you to school, let alone letting you sit near me with all that syrup stuck in your hair."  
His smirk was widening at his victory. This was a battle he'd definitely just won. Venturi one; Mcdonald zero.  
"Just GET OUT!"  
"My Pleasure."

* * *

It had taken nearly half an hour to set the kitchen back to its some-what tidy state, with no help from Derek, of course. After what seemed like an eternity of sweeping up broken bits of plate, and scrubbing away the syrup, the only thing left was to shower and pray that the maple syrup would dislodge itself from her now thickly matted hair. All Derek cared about was his reputation, but what about hers? She couldn't just walk into school looking, well, like a complete and utter disaster. Besides, things were beginning to pick up again between herself and Noel. Sure, her heart was still tender from her break up with Max, but she was willing to let Noel in. But it seemed that was going to be impossible now with Derek around. It wasn't just getting her grounded. Derek was absolutely determined to scare Noel away- or anyone for that matter.

* * *

The running of the shower had suddenly filled his ears as he continued to stare at the clock in front of him. It wasn't like he actually cared whether he got to school on time. First period had started about ten minutes ago, and trigonometry wasn't really Derek's "thing". In reality, anything academic wasn't a very "Derek Venturi" kind of activity. However, the silence was killing him. Casey was taking much longer than he expected. So, she got a bit of syrup in her hair. It wasn't that big of a deal if one day out of her life she didn't look completely perfect.  
That was her problem. She needed to relax and enjoy her high school years. She had absolutely no sense of humor. In fact, the whole ordeal could have been avoided had she just appreciated his bawdy jokes about Noel. She wouldn't be half as obnoxious if she just sat back to enjoy life instead of planning anyway. What was that saying about youth and spontaneity? Well, if there was one thing he learned about Casey, it was that she was not a fan of impulsivity. If she loosened up for a bit the fighting would stop and he would be able to spend his glorious weekend with Sally. Not that their relationship had been anything close to glorious lately. Something was missing, and if it wasn't something he did, it was something he didn't do. Working hard just wasn't something he did for a girl. Or maybe he just hadn't found the girl he was willing to work for. Derek was fully aware, in any event, that this weekend was his last possible attempt to salvage whatever scraps there were left of his scarred relationship. With another glance at the clock, his hand curled itself into a tight ball; this was all Casey's fault. Somehow, it always seemed to be.

* * *

With the syrup now removed from her hair, and a freshly pressed pink blouse and jeans, Casey was finally feeling a bit more like herself. Not only was her morning starting out horrible, but her perfect attendance record had just been shattered into oblivion by a stack of PANCAKES.

"What took you so long? Do you ALWAYS have to look perfect?"  
"I'll take that as a compliment. Besides, if it wasn't for you we wouldn't BE late."  
Her arms were folded in a very "Casey- like" fashion as they stood in the doorway to the garage. Derek really didn't have time for this now. Usually, when the arms crossed, it meant that their fight would continue for at least another ten minutes.  
"Continue to the car, or move, because I'm leaving, and I couldn't care less if you walked. What's George going to do to me anyway. I'm already grounded."  
"This isn't over," was her huffy reply and for once they both were silent as they got into The Prince and pulled out of the driveway.


End file.
